Abortion wars, uninterrupted

The campaign of Arizona Senator John McCain launched a new broadside against Mitt Romney today over Romney's reversal on abortion, but Romney's campaign quickly hit back by saying McCain's move was borne out of "desperation."

The back-and-forth began when McCain's aides, trying to stir up controversy before Romney's address to the National Right to Life convention in Kansas City Friday, sent an email to reporters questioning Romney's rhetoric on abortion. The email, under the header "Mitt vs. Fact," included a link to a YouTube video of Romney saying in May 2005 that he was committed to maintaining the "status quo" on Massachusetts abortion laws.

McCain's campaign tried to equate those remarks with an endorsement of abortion rights and argue that they contradict Romney's assertion that he became an opponent of abortion rights after an epiphany months earlier during a debate over stem cell research.

"Mitt Romney's biggest challenge in this election will be convincing Republicans he has principled positions on important issues," McCain spokesman Matt David said in a statement.

Romney's campaign promptly responded by saying the video had been edited selectively. His aides released a fuller transcript of Romney's remarks that day, in which he explains his ethical objections to a certain kind of embryonic stem cell research. (Here's a link to the full video.)

"It's very troubling that the McCain campaign would attack the governor's pro-life stance by trying to alter the context of a statement made at a news conference where he also made a passionate case for his veto of stem cell legislation that showed a level of disregard for the sanctity of human life," Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said in a statement. "The McCain campaign's motives are obviously borne of desperation."

The dispute over abortion is the latest issue over which McCain and Romney have tangled. They have also been engaged in a heated debate over immigration -- McCain helped craft the Senate's new immigration reform bill, and Romney has attacked it as effectively giving "amnesty" to illegal immigrants.

Romney today also announced the members of his "National Faith and Values Steering Committee," including prominent anti-abortion activist James Bopp Jr., public relations guru Mark DeMoss, and Lou Sheldon, president of the Traditional Values Coalition.